California | April 27, 2021
California Law Forcing Charities to Identify Donors Is Unconstitutional, Supreme Court Hears
California | April 27, 2021
The Supreme Court seems sympathetic to arguments by two conservative charities that a California law requiring charities to hand over the names of their donors violates the First Amendment.
The case, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, court file 19-251, and a companion case, Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta, court file 19-255, were heard together April 26. Rob Bonta, a Democrat, was sworn in on April 23 as California’s attorney general.
The court allotted 70 minutes for oral argument; the hearing actually ran 104 minutes.
The petitioner groups were represented by Derek L. Shaffer. The respondent, California, was represented by California Deputy Solicitor General Aimee A. Feinberg…
(Excerpt from the Epoch Times)
California | April 16, 2021
Rock Church to reopen for first time since COVID-19
California | April 16, 2021
While churches across California sparred with local governments over restrictions on gathering for worship, Rock Church took another approach, focusing their efforts on ministries outside the building’s four walls.
“Rock Church has always been very dynamic in that we are multifaceted,” Pastor Travis Gibson, who leads the church’s Point Loma campus, told The Christian Post.
“We don’t just do Sundays, but we also did blood drives, we repaired over 300,095 expired N95 masks and delivered them to responders, we have a prison ministry, and we already had people meeting in parks. We delivered clothing to families in need and had a military festival drive-thru style.”…
(Excerpts from The Christian Post)
California | April 12, 2021
City Authorities Surrounds Business With Chain-Link Fence for Defying CCP Virus Health Orders
California | April 12, 2021
Authorities in a California city have erected a fence around a restaurant after the owners repeatedly defied COVID-19 safety protocols, prompting protests near the eatery, according to multiple reports.
The business, Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill on Magnolia Boulevard in the Southern Californian city of Burbank, was surrounded by a chain-link fence on Saturday to prevent the owners from reopening the restaurant, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A judge ruled on April 9 the owners cannot reopen the restaurant without new permits.
According to photos circulating on social media, crowds of demonstrators both in opposition to and in support of city officials closing down the business gathered near the fenced-in eatery….
(Excerpts from The Epoch Times)
Arizona, California, Oregon | April 12, 2021
Christian Colleges Fight Lawsuit Designed to Strip their Students of Financial Aid
Arizona, California, Oregon | April 12, 2021
EUGENE, Ore. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing three Christian post-secondary schools asked a federal district court Friday to allow them to intervene against a lawsuit that seeks to strip all students at private religious colleges of federal financial aid unless their schools renounce core religious beliefs. The suit, filed by a recently formed LGBT activist group on behalf of some current and former students, intends to prevent any students from using tuition grants, student loans, and any other federal financial assistance at schools that operate according to Christian beliefs on sexuality.
The three schools—Corban University, William Jessup University, and Phoenix Seminary—are asking the court to allow them to defend the relevant provisions of Title IX, the federal law that is under attack. Among other things, Title IX allows students to use federal financial aid at private religious schools that operate according to their beliefs.
“This lawsuit wants the federal government to tell Christian schools, ‘To continue accepting students who have federal financial aid, all you have to do is to start acting contrary to your own beliefs.’ That’s neither reasonable nor constitutional,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman. “No court should grant a radical request to rewrite federal law and strong-arm religious colleges by stripping their students of much-needed financial aid. For that reason, we are asking the court to let our clients intervene in this lawsuit so that they and their students can defend their freedoms under federal law and the Constitution.”…
(Excerpts from Alliance Defending Freedom)